WilliamsF1 Team needs more time

At yesterday's press conference announcing the securing of sponsorship from the Royal Bank of Scotland Frank Williams spoke of how the team was close to giving the second drive to Antonio Pizzonia but then they had to consider Nick Heidfeld after his testing performances with the team late last year.

Williams made it clear that the team is not going to rush into their decision but he made it clear that both drivers would be given contracts with the team, it was down to whether they would be as a race or test driver.

Williams said :"Whoever loses will still be offered a test drive" - but a decision could be some weeks away.

"Nick's arrival into the testing scene was not foreseen. We were very comfortable with having Antonio for 2005 but we felt it would be sensible to look at a rival in case there was someone better out there.

"If Nick had not been so obvious to us then Antonio would have been confirmed already, we think he's that good."

Williams said that it was important that the team gave both drivers the time to prove to the team that they had the skills to take on the role of the team's second driver. As for whether the extensive sponsorship from the Brazilian company Petrobras has any part in the teams decision is an unknown. The same could be said for Heidfeld and his links to the German company BMW.

"We've decided that to be fair to the team and also to the two drivers to give them more time to demonstrate their abilities," said Williams. "I think we are talking two or three more tests. We'd like to have a decision certainly at the latest by the launch of the new car at the end of this month in Valencia."

As for the tensions that have become very public between Webber and Pizzonia it came down to who would be the best driver for the team, even though Webber would probably prefer Heidfeld as his team-mate.

Williams added: "I think Mark might be a little bit uncomfortable but if Antonio is the quicker driver we have to do what's best for the team. It'll be a factor in our discussions and final judgement I guess. I hope we can have some sort of certainty about which driver is quicker. At the end of the day if they are both the same we'll have to toss a coin, I don't know. They're quite different drivers but very evenly matched in many respects. We'll see."

Which ever driver the team selects they are still going to have to contend with the fact that they will be starting the 2005 season with two new drivers, a task some would say is very difficult.